Nigerian Football

SEYI AKINWUNMI U13 TOURNEY SETS LAGOS AGLOW

Published

6 years ago

September 2, 2018

For lovers of youth football development, it was a fascinating two –day feast at the Campos Mini-Stadium in Lagos as the Seyi Akinwunmi U13 Football Tournament lit up the Lagos Island and environs at the weekend.

Akinwunmi, who is the 1^st Vice President of the Nigeria Football Federation and Chairman of its Youth Development Committee, is a man known globally for his passion for the youth.

His Foundation (the Seyi Akinwunmi Charity Foundation) also organizes an annual year –ending mini-tournament at the same venue.

On why the U13 Tournament was conceived and delivered, the debonair lawyer who is also Chairman of the Lagos State Football Association told thenff.com: “The Mini-Tournament that we stage every December is actually meant for the young ones, but adults have gradually started taking over the show and I just decided that we should have a separate program for the children.

“This is my passion; this is my love. It is not about hugging the limelight; it is simply about unearthing talents and giving them a sense of belonging.

“There are little children who can play the game and are just waiting to be discovered.

“Our focus is on the intelligent but indigent children, and we want to prove that those who play football can also go to school. It is about education and football rolled into one.”

Invited for the two –day event were LGEA Central School, Kwara State; Emmanuel Anglican Nursery and Primary School, Ekiti State; Baptist Government Secondary School, Osun State; X-Planter Primary School, Lagos State; Abogo Largemo Military Cantonment Primary School, Borno State and; Eko Football Future Stars.

The tournament was won by the boys from Ekiti, after an enthralling final match against LGEA boys from Kwara State that went to penalty shoot –out after a 2-2 draw and had everyone rooting for more.

The Baptist boys from Osun State won the third place match after spanking X-Planter boys from Ikorodu 3-1 on the final day. In an exhibition match, the boys from Borno State pipped Eko Future Stars 1-0 – a shock result given that the Future Stars had defeated their opponents 4-1 in another match 24 hours earlier.

Among dignitaries who attended the finale on Sunday were President of Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Melvin Pinnick, who opted to sponsor three of the children in the victorious squad through his Brownhill Foundation, while also giving the sum of N200,000 to the boys from Borno State; Akinwunmi and his wife Jumoke; NFF Board Members Babagana Kalli and Aisha Falode; NFF Congress members Taiwo Ogunjobi, James Odeniran, Ganiyu Majekodunmi and Tade Azeez; Chairman of the Lagos State Sports Commission Kweku Tandoh; DG, Lagos State Sports Commission Babatunde Bank-Anthony; Lagos FA members Dotun Coker, Mojeed Adegbindin, Wale Joseph and Liameed Gafaar; senior special assistants to Governor Ambode, Bolaji Yusuf and Adeyinka Adeboye; former Nigeria captains Mutiu Adepoju and Friday Ekpo; Channels TV’s Steve Judo and; leading lights of the Sports Editors Forum.

At the end, a cheque for the sum of N500,000 was handed over to the boys from Borno State, while Jeremiah Adekanbi (Baptist Boys, Osun); Akeem Bashiru (Emmanuel Anglican Nursery and Primary School, Ekiti); Mahmood Muyideen (LGEA Central School, Kwara) and; Israel Oke (X-Planter Primary School, Ikorodu) were handed a cheque of the sum of N150,000 each in scholarship.

Dignitaries, including Pinnick, Akinwunmi, Babagana, Tandoh, Azeez and Bank-Olemoh line up with the boys from Kwara State before the final match.

Akinwunmi is hoping that some other States of the Federation can start a similar program that will give hope to intelligent but indigent children waiting to be discovered and at the same time offered an opportunity to combine education with their passion.

“If we have about 10 States doing something like this, we would never have to worry about getting players for the age –grade National Teams. All we would require is getting the right technical crew to teach them the basics and nurture them to become the stars of the future of our game.”

Nigerian Football

Nigeria face tough defence as Burkina Faso lie in wait at U17 WAFU B AFCON qualifiers

Published

16 hours ago

April 23, 2024

Kunle Solaja

Defending champions Nigeria have been handed a difficult path to the 2025 U17 Africa Cup of Nations finals after being drawn in the same group as Burkina Faso for next month’s WAFU B qualifying tournament in Ghana.

The Golden Eaglets, who won the last edition of the regional championship in 2022, will also face Togo and Niger in Group B of the competition which runs from 15-28 May.

Hosts Ghana find themselves in Group A alongside Cote d’Ivoire and Benin in a tough-looking section of the competition to be played in Accra.

The draw was conducted by 1970s Ivorian football legends Kobenan Kouman and Die Foneye at the Ivorian FA headquarters in Abidjan on Friday.

Nigeria claimed their WAFU B U17 AFCON title by defeating Burkina Faso 2-1 in the regional final in Ghana two years ago.

However, they will need to overcome some familiar foes if they are to defend their crown and with the Burkina Faso finishing third at the last TotalEnergies U17 Africa Cup of Nations, some exciting matches are expected.

Arch-rivals Nigeria and Ghana are among the two favourites and could meet in the final in Accra on 28 May, should they top their respective groups and make it through the semi-finals.

Ghana also have pedigree at this level, having the World Cup in 1991 and 1995 as they bid to reach the U17 AFCON finals on home soil.

The top two teams from the WAFU B tournament will qualify for next year’s U17 Africa Cup of Nations.

Groups:

Group A: Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Benin

Group B: Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Togo, Niger.

Nigerian Football

Former Nigeria international, Onye recommends Amuneke-Siasia combo for Super Eagles

Published

2 days ago

April 22, 2024

Kunle Solaja

BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

Kingsley Onye, the left sided defender who was a member of the first Flying Eagles side to have a podium finish at the U-20 World Cup has suggested the employment of Emmanuel Amuneke as the coach of the Super Eagles.

He wants him to be assisted by Samson Siasia when the ban on the latter lapses in August. Alternatively, Onye pointed to Sylvanus Okpala as alternative to Siasia.

The Super Eagles are in dare need for a head coach as the clock ticks down to the Match day 4 and 5 of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in which the team is trailing at the third position.

The two matches in early June are crucial for the Super Eagles to bounce back into reckoning as the team can not afford to drop any of the available six points in the duels with South Africa at home and away to Benin.

From this Monday, it is 41 days to the potentially challenging tie with South Africa, but the Nigerian national team has been without a coach since the expiration of the contract of Portugal’s Jose Peseiro shortly after the Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire.

Without mincing words, Onye remarked: “Emmanuel Amuneke is the right man for the job of the coach of Super Eagles. He has been there before.

“He tasted it and had been fantastic with the Nigeria youth team, the U-17 by assisting Manu Garba to win the U17 World Cup in 2013 and as head coach, led the Golden Eaglets to win the cup again in 2015.”

Onye who played for the Enugu Rangers in Nigeria before venturing to the UK but had his career scuppered by freak injury pointed out that the solution to Super Eagles’ technical deficiency is the appointment of an indigenous coach and that Amuneke is the man.

In buttressing his assertion, he declared: “As a senior team coach, Amuneke qualified a long standing absentee team, Tanzania for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

“His record as a player is also very impressive. He played and won with the Super Eagles, the AFCON 1994. He played at the Olympic Games and was also the first Nigerian to score two goals at the World Cup.

“He has played at the African Games and also for top clubs in the continent as he was a member of the Egyptian giants, Zamalek. In Europe, he played for Sporting Clube de Portugal and then Barcelona before injury ended his playing career.”

Onye also looked at the personality of Amuneke in recommending him for the Super Eagles job.

His record as a player is also very impressive. He played and won with the Super Eagles, the AFCON 1994. He played at the Olympic Games and was also the first Nigerian to score two goals at the World Cup.

He has played at the African Games and also for top clubs in the continent as he was a member of the Egyptian giants, Zamalek. In Europe, he played for Sporting Clube de Portugal and then Barcelona before injury ended his playing career.

Nigerian Football

GTI enlarges coast…spreads from League fund-raising to Federation Cup

Published

5 days ago

April 19, 2024

Kunle Solaja

BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

Strategic partners of the Nigeria Football Federation, GTI Asset Management and Trust Ltd has expanded their scope of operations from fund sourcing for the Nigeria Premier League to adding the responsibility of getting the national cup competition back into its glamorous days.

The MD of the company, Abubakar Lawal at the unveiling a revamped Federation Cup which has been renamed President Federation Cup remarked that his company decided to take a bold step to support the national cup.

“I am the happiest man today, he said in the opening remark of the rebranding of the national cup through signing of Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Sports and the NFF.

“Our company is also strategically involved in ensuring that the President Federation Cup is given necessary attention to thrive using The Nigeria Football Fund (TNFF) as our vehicle to actualise this dream.

“Therefore, it is our vision that the oldest domestic football event becomes one of the best organised football events in the world in no distant future.”